


in the shadow of your heart

by AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, Kwami Swap, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 00:22:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17131487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/AlexSeanchai
Summary: The stars, the moon, they have all been blown outYou left me in the darkNo dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilightThe last thing she must have seen is his eyes, and even as her flesh dissolved under his fingers and her heartbeat fell silent she was trying to tell him something:I love youorI'm sorryorI forgive you, none of which makeanysense but he knows how to read his partner and she has only ever lied to him in defense of the secrets they share (and it's hardly as though he has done differently to her) and he knows better than to think she'd want him lying to himself.He snatches her earrings as they fall and heflees.





	in the shadow of your heart

He wasn't aiming for her: he was trying to bring down some of the mansion to trap his father (his _father_ , what the _fuck_ ), he wasn't aiming for _her_ , and the moth-fucking son of a _bitch_ (he will apologize later to his grandmother's headstone) _blocked his blow with her_.

The last thing she must have seen is his eyes, and even as her flesh dissolved under his fingers and her heartbeat fell silent she was trying to tell him something: _I love you_ or _I'm sorry_ or _I forgive you_ , none of which make _any_ fucking sense but he knows how to read his partner and she has only ever lied to him in defense of the secrets they share (and it's hardly as though he has done differently to her) and he knows better than to think she'd want him lying to himself.

He snatches her earrings as they fall and he _flees_.

Marinette isn't home (which, _fuck_ , he'd trust her with Ladybug's Miraculous before anyone but Ladybug herself) but her bedroom is as secure a fallback position as anywhere in the city. Marinette's diary lies open on her desk (and he's seen the people-eating box she keeps it in, okay, she must have left in one hell of a hurry if she didn't lock it back up first) and it's not that he tries to read it, it's _not_ , it's actually entirely the opposite, but he is constitutionally incapable of seeing words and not reading them, and—

O _kay_ , he needs a minute, he needs to sit down here and map out _what now_ , maybe see if he can corral some backup so this doesn't end up a suicide run—and oh thank fuck she has written down Master Fu's address, she has put names to the unmasked faces of Rena Rouge and Carapace, and he's going to have to 'fess up and face the music stat because she's been rejecting him for _him_ and he ignoring her in favor of _her_ all along—but he's pretty sure it's going to involve Cataclysming the fuck out of his father and then stabbing his own ears with hot needles so he can see how well he can dance Ladybug's part.

* * *

One moment she, Ladybug, can see only Chat Noir's horrified eyes and can only pray he knows she loves him more than life and she forgives everything there has ever been to forgive him for (and this moment was never among his sins; it counts against Hawkmoth alone) and she is so, _so_ sorry she said nothing sooner—the next moment, she, Marinette, is staring at Adrien's father (the scenery is unchanged; they're still in Adrien's bedroom; M. Agreste is gripping her arm just as Hawkmoth was doing a moment ago) and a black-dotted red baton extends (as Chat's silver one does) to force a barrier between them.

"Nice hardware up in that lair of yours," remarks Chat Noir—only it isn't he; but it _is_ , she knows his voice, she knows the way he tenses when he's hiding heartbreak behind bravado—why is he in _her_ colors? "Wonder how big a boom it makes?"

"Yes, that would be my security system," M. Agreste says dryly, "and it operates with pinpoint precision. Surrender the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses, Chat Noir, and I will permit you both to live."

Chat's eyes are on her. "Do you _believe_ this asshole, Marinette?" he says, laughing bitterly. "He's sitting here thinking he's won the hand when I know damn well he's got two pair and thinks I've got fuck-all. Here's _my_ cards, M. Agreste. Remember Markov? Y'know, Robostus?" He taps his earpiece. "Unless I say otherwise, this place will blow ten seconds before I lose the spots. Which I will in about four minutes. And by the way, it's nine pm." He grins; Marinette's used to thinking of him as an overenthusiastic housecat, but _that_ is a jaguar on the prowl. " _Do you know where your son is?_ "

Apparently Chat's baton doubles as a laser pointer; Marinette glances that way and claps her hand over her mouth to muffle her scream.

M. Agreste turns. Spots Adrien, kneeling there gagged and furious with his hands and feet bound. Blanches. "Release him!"

"So how about this," Chat says lazily. "You want your son to survive; I want my girl to survive. You'll let her go, she'll let him go, they'll both run like hell, and you and I will stay here to negotiate the surrender of the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculouses. Like civilized people do."

Marinette trusts Chat Noir with all things but one; she loves Adrien with all her heart; she knows them both better perhaps than they know themselves. Something is wrong with this picture.

M. Agreste stares at Adrien, heartbroken.

"Tick tock," says Chat.

M. Agreste shoves her away and steps back. Marinette glares at Chat, runs to Adrien, yanks the quick release knot securing his feet, grabs his hand, _bolts_.

Carapace is waiting ten paces from Adrien's bedroom door. He catches Adrien (who positively _melts_ into his arms), and puts a finger to his lips, and jerks a thumb at the wall behind him. That's Alya's handwriting, inked in orange light:

> _Trust us ♥_
> 
> _—CN_

Carapace holds out to her the Cat Miraculous, and Adrien— _oh_! oh, she's going to _kill_ Rena, and kill Chat _worse_ —winks.

Marinette slams the ring onto her finger, smirks at Plagg, and whispers "Claws out."

She—Ladybug, she supposes, wearing Chat Noir's colors or no; she didn't get a look at herself before Rena tweaked the illusion to hide her from sight—sneaks back into Adrien's bedroom. Chat and Hawkmoth are fencing with baton and cane; Ladybug has her trusty yo-yo, she just needs a clear shot to _use_ it—

"Peahen down!" shouts Queen Bee. "Peahen down!"

"Book it!" bellows Chat Noir, and Hawkmoth moves one heartbeat too slow. Entangled in Ladybug's yo-yo cord, he falls.

Chat uses his baton to roll the man face-up. He plucks the Butterfly Miraculous from Hawkmoth's collar and bounds for the open window.

Ladybug stares down at Gabriel Agreste. " _Why?_ " she asks. "Why would you hurt Adrien like this?"

Gabriel glares at the ceiling, since he can't see _her_. "This is _for_ Adrien!"

"And if you'll buy that," says Chat Noir from halfway out the window, utterly disgusted. "Come on, princess."

"Explain," snaps Ladybug.

"Princess!" calls Chat.

" _Explain_ , Gabriel."

" _Marinette_!"

Behind the sound of her name she hears the Ladybug Miraculous signal the one-minute warning.

…On second thought she doesn't want to know that badly.

She yanks back her yo-yo and leaps, grabbing Chat around the waist and fleeing. Somehow he clambers onto her back, Butterfly Miraculous clenched in his red-gloved fist. "Your balcony," he tells her, holding on for dear life.

"We are gonna have a talk when we get there," Ladybug tells him.

The street lights up ahead of them, their shadow stretching into the distance, and behind them there is an echoing _boom_.

(She wonders if Gabriel somehow escaped.)

(She isn't sure she cares.)

"That we are," says Chat.

His spots melt off in red sparks to leave bare muscled arms behind. She keeps running.

Her balcony is deserted, but her skylight is open. Alya and Nino are trembling side by side on her chaise longue when they drop onto her bed, Chloé is pacing the room, and something glints blue on Marinette's desk beside her open diary. The shape suggests it's the Peacock Miraculous.

Chat Noir vaults off her bed and lands deftly on the floor, and Adrien throws his arms into the air, Butterfly Miraculous still firmly in hand. "And they stick the landing!"

The room explodes with cheers.

"Claws in," murmurs Ladybug, and Marinette descends the steps to join them.

Adrien slaps the brooch onto the desk beside its partner in crime and turns to her, grinning. She glares. His face falls; she can picture how Chat's cat ears droop. The other three fall quiet.

"I read your diary," Adrien says, fast like bullets, "and I owe you so many apologies— _so many apologies_ —but in my defense, you're _alive_ and we _won_."

"I am so furious with you," Marinette tells him.

Adrien gulps. "I'm sorry," he says, soft, sad, determined. "But I'd do it again."

Marinette sits down at her desk. She slams her diary shut and locks it up where it belongs. Takes off the Cat Miraculous and gives serious consideration to shoving it down Adrien's throat.

She pointedly doesn't react when Adrien comes up beside her and sets the Ladybug Miraculous down. "You'll want to clean these," he says. "I didn't exactly bother to do a clean and sterile ear piercing."

She says nothing. Doesn't move.

Adrien turns away from her. "I don't know about the rest of you," he says, "but I'm going to go get drunk."

Marinette spins her chair to face him. "Did you mean it?" she asks him. "Any of the times you told me as Ladybug you wanted me—did you mean it?"

His eyes flicker to her diary lockbox. "Yeah," he says quietly. "Every word."

"See, if you go get drunk," Marinette explains patiently, "then ethical problems arise with my jumping your bones." He gawks. She smirks. "Wouldn't you rather come get laid?"

Chloé dives through the trap door. Nino and Alya follow; she'd say they move more sedately except they're both laughing their asses off.

Adrien puts on one of Chat Noir's 'I'm sexy and I know it' grins. (Marinette has to admit, those have been working on her for a couple years. She just didn't want them to, so she refused to let on.) "So would you say you call my 'bump fists' and raise me 'bump uglies'?"

Marinette spins the chair the other way. "Nope, we're done."

He comes close enough behind her for his breath to tickle her ear. "Pound it!"

" _Chaton_!" She meant it wholly disapproving. It came out far nearer delighted.

"You love me," Adrien says cockily. (…Oh, fuck, he's rubbing off on her. —Oh, _fuck_.)

"Gods help me, _yes_." Marinette stands, running her fingertips up his arm, the length of his collarbone, down to his hip, watching emerald fire rise in his eyes. Passion, for _her_. "You're overdressed. Get these off."

Adrien lifts her up to sit on the desk; slides one hand up the back of her blouse to pop her bra clasp. "Whatever it takes, my lady." He's looking at her like she's _everything_ and they haven't even _kissed_ yet. "My love."

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [Dreamwidth](https://alexseanchai.dreamwidth.org/) and [Tumblr](http://alexseanchai.tumblr.com/).


End file.
